Tensile Membrane Action of Thin Slabs Exposed to Thermal Gradients
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 139, Issue 11
Abstract
A number of simplified design methods have been developed to predict composite slab capacities in fire. Most of these extend ambient-temperature large-deflection slab behavior to the elevated-temperature phase by reducing the strengths of fire-exposed concrete and reinforcement while neglecting the effects of thermal expansion and thermal bowing of the slab. Experiments have shown that there are significant differences between the predictions from these methods and the actual behavior and failure modes of ambient- and elevated-temperature concrete slabs in tensile membrane action. Therefore, this paper describes the development of a new analytical method that incorporates both thermal and mechanical effects into the prediction of slab behavior in fire conditions. It uses the variational Rayleigh-Ritz approach to classical large-deflection plate theory. The method is found to produce accurate predictions of deflections and membrane tractions; however, it requires further refinement for accuracy of stresses. The results are compared with numerical modeling using VULCAN, a specialist finite-element (FE) program for structural fire engineering.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge support by the Overseas Research Studentship Award Scheme, the University of Sheffield, and Corus Ltd., who collectively funded this project.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 139 • Issue 11 • November 2013
Pages: 1497 - 1507
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 13, 2011
Accepted: Jan 30, 2013
Published online: Feb 1, 2013
Published in print: Nov 1, 2013
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